Undergraduate Research Posters

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  Examination of Methylation Sites for Forensic Age Determination from Semen

  Christian Renwick and Sarah J. Seashols-Williams

  Methylation Sensitive High-Resolution Melt (MS-HRM) is based on quantitating the melt curve from an experimental sample against a standard of known methylation levels. Whereas most applications of age prediction using methylation markers are based upon pyrosequencing or SNaPshot technologies, these analysis methods are both cost and instrumentation prohibitive. This study sought to use to the varied methylation status of the ELOVL2 and FHL2 alleles, both having known correlation with age (Hamano et. al.), in a labor and time efficient manner to develop an age prediction model. A non-linear regression and standard curve was compiled from the methylation status in a sample (n=7) of extracted semen samples and compared to chronological age. The methylation status of ELVOL2 and FHL2 from each sample was obtained, with the conclusion that no correlation in methylation percentage and biological age existed for this sample of individuals aged 20-33. The principal objective of this study, to expand the application of MS-HRM age prediction from blood to other body fluids, will need further testing using larger sample sizes and broader age ranges prior to application in forensic casework.

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  Detection and Quantification of Glucuronidation of Ursolic Acid (UA) in Human Liver Microsomes (HLMs).

  Kamola Tolliboeva and Philip M. Gerk

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  Speech Recognition Technology: Improving Speed and Accuracy of Emergency Medical Services Documentation to Protect Patients

  Tan T. Tran

  Because hospital errors, such as mistakes in documentation, cause one sixth of the deaths each year in the United States, the accuracy of health records in the emergency medical services (EMS) must be improved. One possible solution is to incorporate speech recognition (SR) software into current tools used by EMS first responders. The purpose of this research was to determine if SR software could increase the efficiency and accuracy of EMS documentation to improve the safety for patients of EMS. An initial review of the literature on the performance of current SR software demonstrated that this software was not 99% accurate and therefore, errors in the medical documentation produced by the software could harm patients. The literature review also identified weaknesses of SR software that could be overcome so that the software would be accurate enough for use in EMS settings. These weaknesses included the inability to differentiate between similar phrases and the inability to filter out background noise. To find a solution, an analysis of natural language processing algorithms showed that the bag-of-words post processing algorithm has the ability to differentiate between similar phrases. This algorithm is the best suited for SR applications because it is simple yet effective compared to machine learning algorithms that required a large amount of training data. The findings suggested that if these weaknesses of current SR software are solved, then the software would potentially increase the efficiency and accuracy of EMS documentation. Further studies should integrate the bag-of-words post processing method into SR software and field test its accuracy in EMS settings.

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  Community Engagement for Health and Wellness in Aging Populations: Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation (iCubed)

  Naziirah Vines

  The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry and Innovation (iCubed) is a cutting-edge institute focused on creating collaborative connections between the university and Richmond through innovative academic and research programs. iCubed consists of six transdisciplinary cores which unite faculty members and students to work with key community members to develop holistic solutions to 21st century urban challenges. One of these cores, the Health and Wellness in Aging Populations (HWAP) core, was designed to educate and assist low-income older adults in becoming self-sufficient in navigating healthcare services. The HWAP core is centered within the Richmond Health and Wellness Program, an interprofessional care coordination and wellness service that serves Richmond’s low-income senior housing communities. As part of its inaugural mentorship program, iCubed created the Commonwealth Scholars Program (CSP) to pair academically talented undergraduate students with faculty members in the HWAP core to conduct research on aging populations in Richmond. As part of their responsibilities, the students were tasked with interviewing HWAP core faculty members to assess their perceptions of the core’s mission and progress. As such, the current study summarizes the findings from these interviews and offers guidelines for future directions.

  CSP conducted interviews with HWAP core faculty members (N=10) to establish a multiperspective vision of HWAP core objectives. Interviewed members come from the following VCU Departments: Family and Community Health Nursing/School of Nursing, Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science/School of Pharmacy, Family Medicine and Population Health/School of Medicine, Gerontology/School of Allied Health Professions, Adult Health and Nursing Systems, and Urban and Regional Studies, Planning/L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. Each interview lasted approximately 10 minutes and was recorded into an electronic document. Themes from the interviews were identified and main themes are described. Coded themes indicated that the HWAP core aims to deliver care, offer education, and help aging clients navigate the healthcare system. Faculty members noted that HWAP core’s engagement with the community aims to build trust with community members and create lifelong partnerships. Findings indicated that the HWAP core has the potential to improve the quality of life for older adults and empower community members to maintain their independence and age in place. Future opportunities for the HWAP core include training older adults to become community health workers to be truly vested within the mission and actions of the core. In conclusion, the HWAP core aims to improve the lives of low-income older adults in Richmond and does so by connecting VCU researchers and students with community members.

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  Does The Rock Really Rock? The effects of using a celebrity in a B2B advertisement.

  Mary Widmer and Amanda Heah

  Background: Previous studies have investigated the relationship between the content of advertisements and the effect it has on viewers’ engagement and retention. Seno and Lukas (2007) looked into this phenomenon and stated, “research has found that celebrities are more effective than other types of endorsers” (p. 121). Another study by Tantiseneepong, Gorton, and White (2012) found that celebrity endorsers “can improve the effectiveness of marketing communications, by enhancing a product’s image, attracting attention and improving recall rates” (p. 57).

  Research Questions:This research addresses relationships with having a celebrity in a B2B advertisement. This study sought to answer the following questions: a) How does the usage of a celebrity in a B2B advertisement affect visual fixation? b) How does the usage of a celebrity in a B2B advertisement affect retention of product information presented in the advertisement?

  Methods: The eye-tracking data was collected in the Customer Experience Lab (a School of Business behavioral research lab featuring two eye-tracking stations). The participants for this research were 37 qualified business managers. This was a between subjects experimental design in which one cell was shown a shredder advertisement featuring a celebrity and the other cell was shown a shredder advertisement with a stock photo model. After viewing their respective advertisements, participants completed a short survey to evaluate their experience.

  Conclusion: In general, the results indicate that the usage of a celebrity brings greater attention to the advertisement. The data shows that participants spend more time looking at the advertisement with the celebrity in comparison to the advertisement with the stock photo model. Retention of product information included in the advertisement is greater when a celebrity is not present in the advertisement.

  References:

  Diana Seno, Bryan A. Lukas,(2007) "The equity effect of product endorsement by celebrities: A conceptual framework from a co‐branding perspective", European Journal of Marketing,Vol. 41Issue: 1/2, pp.121-134, https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710718148

  Nisachon Tantiseneepong, Matthew Gorton, John White,(2012) "Evaluating responses to celebrity endorsements using projective techniques", Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal,Vol. 15Issue: 1, pp.57-69, https://doi.org/10.1108/13522751211191991

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  The Role of Microenvironment Reagent Solubility on Reaction Kinetics of 4-Nitrophenol Reduction

  Michael P. Zeevi, Andrew Harrison, and Christina Tang

  The Role of Microenvironment Reagent Solubility on Reaction Kinetics of 4-Nitrophenol Reduction

  Michael Zeevi¹ with Andrew Harrison¹ and Christina Tang, PhD¹

  ¹Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, VCU School of Engineering

  Introduction: Nanoparticles are of increasing interest due to their high surface area to volume ratio, as well as that they enable fine-tuning of the reaction microenvironment. Through flash nanoprecipitation, core-shell polymer nanoreactors were formed by directed self-assembly. Using the reduction of 4-nitrophenol as a model reduction reaction, we investigated the effect of reagent solubility in the nanoreactor microenvironment’s on nanoreactor kinetics.

  Methods: The standard reaction was conducted at room temperature, with a 1000-fold excess of sodium borohydride in a quartz cuvette for real-time in situ­ UV-Vis analysis. Reagent concentrations were varied to examine the resulting effect on the calculated reaction rate constant. Reagent solubility limits in the nanoreactor microenvironment were estimated from solubility measurements in solvents with similar Hansen solubility parameters. Ethanol was chosen to represent the hydrophilic poly(ethylene) glycol phase and chloroform was chosen to represent the hydrophobic polystyrene phase. The hydrophilic phase had a visual absorbance at nm, and thus UV-Vis spectrometry was used to determine the saturation concentration. ¹H NMR analysis with chloroform-D containing an internal standard (v/v TMS 0.03%) was used to measure the reagent solubility in the hydrophobic phase.

  Results: 4-nitrophenol solubility in ethanol was determined by UV-Vis spectrometry to be . The solubility in chloroform-D was determined by ¹H NMR to be . When 4-nitrophenol concentration is varied independently of sodium borohydride, an inverse relationship is observed with respect to the rate constant. However, when 4-nitrophenol and sodium borohydride concentrations are varied concurrently, no change is witnessed in the rate constant above the standard reaction concentration.

  Conclusions: This experiment demonstrated that the rate of reaction in polystyrene core nanoreactors is not dependent on the reagent concentrations above the standard concentration. Solubility in each phase was measured in an effort to explain this behavior. The differences in solubility observed between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic phases may serve to explain this behavior if the interior, hydrophobic phase is saturated by 4-nitrophenol at the standard concentration. Future work should include study of concentrations at lower values than the standard concentration to determine when a change in the observed rate constant occurs.

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  Meta-analysis of the origin of bimaturism in orangutan males

  Mina Adnan

  Unlike any other primate species, orangutans exhibit extraordinary sexual differences in their facial morphology. Two different strategies are available for males that reach sexual maturity: either become fully “flanged” and develop secondary sexual characteristics, which is knownto be only developed by the dominant male, or remain “unflanged” and not develop secondary sexual characteristics. The mechanism for how this bimaturism evolved and how occurs is poorly understood, but both flanged and unflanged males are reproductively successful.

  This project explores the physiological mechanism behind bimaturismin orangutan males; namely, are there genetic differences between flanged and unflanged males such that the strategy is inherited, is bimaturism a result of hormonal differences, and how do the two strategies influence reproductive success in male orangutans? Previous studies have shown that males that develop these “flanges” or cheek pads are more likely to have a high reproductive success than the ones who do not develop them. Results suggest that males with flanges emit a loud vocalization calls, also known as long calls, that give them higher opportunity for mates.

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  Addressing Laterality to Prevent Injury in Dance Education: Teaching Methods to Compensate for the Right Bias and Asymmetry

  Olivia M. Alsamadi

  Despite the vast knowledge available about proper alignment and safe dance training, the growing demands for university dancers have plagued them with increasing rates of overuse injuries stemming from an imbalance in their practice often influenced by their professors. The purpose of this review is to study teaching methods in dance education and the right bias in university dance classes to learn how unbalanced teaching methods and dancers’ asymmetric physicalities cause injuries. This research will help professors understand how to effectively communicate with their students to promote safe, injury preventing practice. The research explores the various roles present in the problem, including the involvement of the student, professor, and even the physical therapist. This review investigates the influence the professor’s language and actions have on the student’s behaviors. For instance, how the student may interpret the language differently from the professor’s true intentions. Also considered in the research is the implementation of screening students for any physical asymmetries or weaknesses at the beginning of each semester to develop a basis for individual conditioning programs to work toward evolving a more balanced body. In addition to these programs, the research examines the dancers’ attitudes toward the implementation of these programs as well as fully complying with their physicians’ requests during injury. The current research shows that students are more likely to learn about proper alignment and human anatomy than they are to actually embody the information and change their technique habits that are causing these injuries. There is a low percentage of physical therapists who treat dancers and understand how unique dance injuries are and how dance culture influences the prescribed treatment and recovery periods. The research done on university dance programs demonstrates that many schools do not offer an injury prevention course in their core requirements. Universities should strengthen their relationships between their dancers, professors, and physicians, which includes a required injury prevention course that is integrated into their other courses.

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  The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

  Colleen Arthur

  The aim of this paper is to look into the human rights violations committed by the United States against the black men during the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment as well as touch on the broader concept of racial medicine. In addition, my goal is to dismantle the pretense society may hold about the United States and the moral high ground it claims to stand on. In order to accomplish this goal, I will make parallels about atrocities committed by the United States on the African-American population to those committed by the Nazis on the Jewish population in Germany. I will first briefly define the disease in order to provide an understanding of its severity. Then I will discuss the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (TSE) in its entirety. Next, I will discuss and analyze the specific human rights violated. I will then go through and break down aspects of the TSE and provide direct examples of crimes committed by the Nazis to dismantle the mask the United States wears. I will also attempt to investigate the physicians in order to get a thorough understanding of racial medicine and its application specifically in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment as well as in general. In conclusion, I will synthesis the inability of the government to protect its people to the implications it presents today.

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  Patterns of Enslavement and Economic Oppression of Central Virginia

  Hannah Bedwell

  I address how anthropologists can identify the patterns and development of slavery and economic oppression through archaeology and the visualization of Virginia enslavement. I focus on the enslaved people of James Madison's Montpelier. I use 3D modeling as a foundation for integrating enhanced visuals with the goal of presenting a tangible understanding of the enslaved individuals in relation to the artifacts and history of the archaeological sites. I intend to show a common theme in economic oppression by comparing modern themes in slavery and examining Fraser D. Neiman's synthesis of the evolutionary perspective of slavery, and how little has changed in economic practices.

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  My Cup Runneth Over: The Evolution of Acceptance in Sonny's Blues

  Glynis M. Boyd

  Literature Abstract

  My Cup Runneth Over:

  The Evolution of Acceptance in “Sonny’s Blues”

  “Not everything that can be faced can changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced”

  James Baldwin

  The greatest gift of literature is the mirror it provides for us to see ourselves both as we are and who we can be.

  James Baldwin, one of the most prolific writers of the 20^th century, was a creative advocate of this method, as demonstrated in his writing. Sonny’s Blues, one of Baldwin’s most widely read and discussed short stories, asks the reader to consider provocative questions when it comes to the messages Baldwin conveys through the story of the relationship between Sonny, a talented musician struggling with a heroin addiction and his brother, who is never named yet clearly shown as the opposite of Sonny regarding personality and stability. As with many writers with a religious foundation, Baldwin intersperses Biblical language and references throughout the story, ending with a scene in a jazz club of the brother (also story narrator) describing Sonny reaching for a glass of Scotch and milk, a drink he sent to congratulate Sonny at the end of his musical set:

  “"For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of trembling”

  Using this Biblical image as referenced in the “cup of trembling,” my research contends the cup reference is specific to the evolution of acceptance for Sonny and his brother, of not only each other but themselves. I assert this acceptance is an unexplored area in relationship to Baldwin’s own challenges with living authentically in 20th century America: a homosexual, African American man who loved a country with a history of conflicted love for him and his peers. By focusing on acceptance in this regard, the theme of redemption through vulnerability is shown as the true “savior” in Sonny’s Blues.

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  Characterization of a Putative Hemolysin Expressed by Sneathia amnii, a Preterm Birth-associated Pathogen

  Lizette Carrasco and Kimberly Jefferson

  The gram-negative bacteria Sneathia amnii is a poorly-characterized commensal of the female urogenital tract frequently associated with adverse clinical outcomes such as bacterial vaginosis (BV), amnionitis, and preterm labor. To investigate its potential role in virulence, we sought to identify and characterize virulence determinants produced by S. amnii in an effort to better understand the pathogenesis of infectious preterm birth. Through sequencing of the Sn35 genome (type strain of S. amnii), we identified two genes with amino acid sequence similarity and structural similarity to the filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) protein of Bordetella pertussis and its Type Vb transporter. Because S. amnii requires human blood components for growth and lyses human red blood cells, we hypothesized that this two-partner system was involved in hemolysis. To characterize the function of the FHA-like protein, a purified, recombinant peptide was used to induce an antibody response. The polyclonal rabbit serum against the antigenic peptide was incubated with S. amnii to block the FHA-like protein prior to the addition of red blood cells. Pre-treatment with the antiserum inhibited hemolytic activity against human erythrocytes suggesting that the FHA-like protein is somehow involved in hemolysis. Additionally, we found that the hemolytic activity of S. amnii was highly specific against human red blood cells; it did not lyse horse or rabbit red blood cells and only minimally lysed sheep red blood cells. Further research efforts will focus on purifying functional FHA-like protein for further characterization and to determine whether it is sufficient to induce hemolysis.

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  The Bamboo Ceiling: A Study of Barriers to Asian American Advancement

  Emily Cheng

  The idea of cultural diversity in the workplace is a popular one, generating much discussion about the inclusion of and affirmative action toward minorities. However, these conversations rarely involve Asian Americans, who despite above-average levels of educational achievement, household income, and employment, find themselves underrepresented in and shut-out of upper-level management positions. In this project, I investigated the stereotype of East-Asian Americans as a model minority (created by non-Asians) to find out why East-Asian Americans are underrepresented in upper-level management in corporate workplaces, a phenomenon known as the “bamboo ceiling.” I explored a variety of scholarly sources that analyzed the historical implications of the “model minority” stereotype as well as factors believed to contribute to the aggregation of Asian Americans in technical rather than managerial roles in the workplace.

  I determined that the Asian American experience and ensuing model minority myth is strongly tied to America’s poor history with prejudice and discrimination against racial minorities. Asian Americans are consistently stereotyped as perpetual foreigners with poor language and communications skills, and they are excluded from networking, mentoring, and training pipelines to promotions to management. These barriers result in a “bamboo ceiling,” preventing East-Asian Americans from proportionally rising to management or major decision-making roles within an organization.

  The aim of this project is to bring attention to the role of implicit and institutional discrimination in hiring and promotional practices within American corporations as they concern Asian Americans, who are not traditionally considered victims of racial and ethnic discrimination. My research has also shown that the “model minority” stereotype is a harmful myth that masks deep-seated social and racial issues that continue to plague our nation today. I hope that continued dialogue concerning stereotyping and discrimination will bring more awareness to the issue and contribute toward the attainment equality for all.

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  A Study of Media Portrayal of Schizophrenics to Understand How Stigma Associated with Schizophrenia may be Reversed

  Rainielle M. Cua

  The news media are one of the most influential sources of information regarding mental illness. Media coverage on schizophrenia, one of the most stigmatized mental illnesses, tends to be negative, focusing on high risks of violence, failure, and unpredictability. Such perceptions may cause a detrimental impact on the mentally ill and cause them to internalize a stigmatizing stereotype and hinder the public’s understanding of mental illness. I studied how media portrayal in newspaper coverage of schizophrenics has evolved to discover how nonfiction media representation has affected people’s perceptions and attitudes towards schizophrenics and to propose an implementable solution to reduce stigma by utilizing the media. I explored scholarly sources that analyzed the changes in reporting of schizophrenia in high-circulation newspapers in different countries and how renaming schizophrenia in Japan reduced the associated stigma. I also investigated successful solutions that have been implemented in other countries that have helped decease the stigma associated with schizophrenia. Currently in other countries, destigmatization efforts are mostly directed at providing more accurate information. An appeal for the government to provide opportunities to discuss and reflect on media contents may also be successful in decreasing the association between mental illness and violent crime. It is imperative that the US creates and implement solutions that may decrease mental health stigma and also discover other possible solutions. This will not only help the predicaments of those suffering from mental illness, but may also educate the public on such mental health problems as to prevent further misinformation.

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  Evaluating Feature Extraction Methods for Biomedical Word Sense Disambiguation

  Clint A. Cuffy, Sam Henry, and Bridget T. McInnes

  Evaluating Feature Extraction Methods for Biomedical WSD

  Clint Cuffy, Sam Henry and Bridget McInnes, PhD

  Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

  Introduction. Biomedical text processing is currently a high active research area but ambiguity is still a barrier to the processing and understanding of these documents. Many word sense disambiguation (WSD) approaches represent instances of an ambiguous word as a distributional context vector. One problem with using these vectors is noise -- information that is overly general and does not contribute to the word’s representation. Feature extraction approaches attempt to compensate for sparsity and reduce noise by transforming the data from high-dimensional space to a space of fewer dimensions. Currently, word embeddings [1] have become an increasingly popular method to reduce the dimensionality of vector representations. In this work, we evaluate word embeddings in a knowledge-based word sense disambiguation method.

  Methods. Context requiring disambiguation consists of an instance of an ambiguous word, and multiple denotative senses. In our method, each word is replaced with its respective word embedding and either summed or averaged to form a single instance vector representation. This also is performed for each sense of an ambiguous word using the sense’s definition obtained from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). We calculate the cosine similarity between each sense and instance vectors, and assign the instance the sense with the highest value.

  Evaluation. We evaluate our method on three biomedical WSD datasets: NLM-WSD, MSH-WSD and Abbrev. The word embeddings were trained on the titles and abstracts from the 2016 Medline baseline. We compare using two word embedding models, Skip-gram and Continuous Bag of Words (CBOW), and vary the word vector representational lengths, from one-hundred to one-thousand, and compare differences in accuracy.

  Results. The overall outcome of this method demonstrates fairly high accuracy at disambiguating biomedical instance context from groups of denotative senses. The results showed the Skip-gram model obtained a higher disambiguation accuracy than CBOW but the increase was not significant for all of the datasets. Similarly, vector representations of differing lengths displayed minimal change in results, often differing by mere tenths in percentage. We also compared our results to current state-of-the-art knowledge-based WSD systems, including those that have used word embeddings, showing comparable or higher disambiguation accuracy.

  Conclusion. Although biomedical literature can be ambiguous, our knowledge-based feature extraction method using word embeddings demonstrates a high accuracy in disambiguating biomedical text while eliminating variations of associated noise. In the future, we plan to explore additional dimensionality reduction methods and training data.

  [1] T. Mikolov, I. Sutskever, K. Chen, G. Corrado and J. Dean, "Distributed representations of words and phrases and their compositionality," Advances in neural information processing systems, pp. 3111-3119, 2013.

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  Vector Representations of Multi-Word Terms for Semantic Relatedness

  Clint A. Cuffy, Sam Henry, and Bridget T. McInnes

  Vector Representations of Multi-Word Terms for Semantic Relatedness

  Sam Henry, Clint Cuffy and Bridget T. McInnes, PhD

  Introduction: Semantic similarity and relatedness measures quantify the degree to which two concepts are similar (e.g. liver-organ) or related (e.g. headache-aspirin). These metrics are critical to improving many natural language processing tasks involving retrieval and clustering of biomedical and clinical documents and developing biomedical terminologies and ontologies. Numerous ways exist to quantify these measures between distributional context vectors but no direct comparison between these metrics and exploration of representing multi-word context vectors. We explore several multi-word aggregation methods of distributional context vectors for the task of semantic similarity and relatedness in the biomedical domain.

  Methods: We use two multi-word aggregation methods including the summation and averaging of component word vectors. The direct creation of multi-word vectors using our compoundify tool and creation of concept vectors using the Metamap tool are also utilized to generate a single vector representation for multi-word terms. Along with these methods, we employ three vector dimensionality reduction techniques: singular value decomposition (SVD), word embeddings using word2vec’s continuous bag of words (CBOW) and skip-gram (SG) approaches. Lastly, explicit vectors of word-to-word, term-to-term, or component-to-component co-occurrences are used as a baseline. Lastly, we measure differences between vector dimensionalities consisting of comparison lengths 100, 200, 500, 1000, 1500 up to 3000.

  Results: We evaluate the metrics on the UMNSRS and MiniMayoSRS evaluation reference standards. Results show lower dimensional vectors word2vec’s concept vectors (CBOW and SG) with vector dimensionality of 200 to outperform explicit and SVD. SVD performs best with the vector dimensionality of 1000. Between multi-term aggregation methods, the choice was arbitrary. Combining single terms to create multi-word terms pre or post training showed little statistical significance between all dimensionality reduction techniques and vector dimensionalities.

  Conclusions: In general, there is no increase in correlation between word2vec’s SG versus CBOW in biomedical context. Relatively high accuracy with little computational complexity was shown using the sum or mean of context vectors to create a single vector representation for multi-word terms. Although the method of generating distributional context vectors differ; both have their strengths and weaknesses depending on the hyper-parameters utilized.

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  Ancient Egyptian Figurines: An Investigation into Manufacture, Use, and Culture.

  Kristina B. Donnally 2455289

  I will analyze the social and religious role of figurines in Egyptian society. I will delve into the differences in the figurines in both manufacture and purpose between the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. I hope to look at religious, political, and other figurines to get a broad spectrum of usage for the artifacts. The main purpose of the research is to identify the time period, purpose, and usage for the figure donated to VCU by Professor Waybright. Questions I have is if the changes in political structure and minute changes in religion between each Kingdom affected the manufacture and use of figurines. Another question is to see if there are any significant differences in the religious figurines during periods of religious conflict such as the Amarna Period.

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  Separation of Blood Mixtures Using Fluorescently Labeled Antibodies

  Christopher Ehrhardt, Dani Jabado, and Emily Brocato

  Identifying and analyzing biological mixture samples at a crime scene are of paramount concern for forensic scientists, especially if that type of evidence contains only one cell type. The presence of multiple contributors in a biological evidence sample reduces the probative value of DNA evidence and can sometimes lead to its eventual loss of value. As such, this study was performed in an attempt to examine and evaluate flow cytometry analysis as a means to separate blood mixture samples labeled with fluorescent antibodies. Fluorescein Isothiocyanate (FITC) antibodies were specifically targeted and bound to HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigens) markers present on nucleated cells in the blood, after which they were isolated from the blood mixture utilizing Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) - A high throughput technique that separates cell populations based on their optical activity, followed by STR analysis. This approach was tested on fresh blood mixtures containing two contributors, where one contributor possessed an HLA A*02 allele that was not shared with the other contributor. We hypothesize that HLA A*02 positive samples would exhibit fluorescence when bound with the fluorescently labeled antibodies while the HLA A*02 samples would not. As such, we would be able to separate both cell populations using FACS followed by STR analysis. Such a work flow is believed to yield discriminant STR profiles unique to each contributor thus increasing the probative value of the evidence at hand. Results supported our hypothesis and yielded discriminant STR profiles for both contributors, with minor peaks from the A*02 negative contributor being observed in A*02 positive contributor sample. We can then conclude that HLA-A*02 antibodies coupled to FACS is a suitable method that can be utilized to evaluate and separate blood mixture samples in an attempt to yield discriminant STR profiles.

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  The Extension of RBC Longevity and Functionality in the Prevention of Graft Versus Host Disease

  Shanmuka Gadiraju and Megh Kumar

  Given today’s current scientific method of preservation, red blood cells (RBCs) donated or drawn from live humans have a storage life of approximately 42 days, after which the blood will be discarded due to of degradation of the RBCs. The mechanism that drives said degradation is known as oxidative stress, in which the cells’ inability to balance out the creation and excretion of free radicals causes a conformational change in the shape and efficacy of RBCs. In order to counteract the oxidative actions upon the cells, it has been thought that the addition of reducing agents, specifically ascorbic acid, the reduced form of Vitamin C, to the matrix in which the cells are stored can push back the adverse effects of oxidation, allowing the cells to be stored for at least 56 days.

  The method by which we quantify the efficacy of the said ascorbic acid treatment involves the measurement of blood redox potential using Nanoporous Gold Electrodes (NPGs). By using nanoporous electrodes in contrast to the more conventional planar electrodes, we can minimize the effects of biofouling on the electrochemical response, giving us more reproducible and consistent results. Through Open Circuit Potential (OCP) measurements, we have measured the redox potential of packed RBCs in both large volumes (milliliters) and in single drops (sub-microliters) over a 56-day period. The general statistical trend of the results of the OCPs over the past few months seems to suggest that the ascorbic acid treatment does indeed help stabilize the redox potential of RBCs.

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  Identification of “Kratom” (Mitragyna speciosa) Alkaloids in Commercially Available Products

  Julia Grzymkowski, Michelle R. Peace, and Justin Poklis

  “Kratom” is the common name for the botanical mitragyna speciosa. It is a tree native to Southeast Asia in which leaves contain the psychoactive alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. Kratom is often ingested as teas, chewed, or smoked. It acts as a stimulant in small doses and as an opioid in large doses. Overdoses can result in vomiting, seizures, and death. Recently the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) placed Kratom on Schedule 1, but, due to public outcry, it was almost immediately removed.

  Eleven kratom based products were obtained from various tobacco shops, “headshops” and via the internet including: Choice brand capsule and powder, Krave brand capsule, Lucky brand powder, King Kratom and Purple Haze e-liquids with 0 mg nicotine and 12 mg nicotine, Mojo brand capsule, O.P.M.S Liquid Kratom concentrate, and a K. Kratom chocolate bar. These products and methanol extracted samples were analyzed for psychoactive alkaloids and other components using an AccuTOF Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).

  The psychoactive alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine along with four other alkaloids, corynantheidine, corynoxine, paynantheine, and speciofoline, were identified in all 11 products.

  Unregulated commercial products made from kratom contain psychoactive alkaloids such as mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. They are readily available in a variety of forms and may be prone to abuse.

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  Dredging Land Reclamation Causing Mucus Development in Massive Spherical Corals in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea: The Effects on China’s Fishing Industry

  Tiffany K. Ho

  Images from Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative depicted huge masses of white coral mucus secreted from coral reefs in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, an area where several land reclamation projects are occurring. The purpose of this research was to understand how increased sedimentation levels from the dredging land reclamation method affects mucus development in massive corals, such as Acropora, located in these reefs. Journal articles that focused on the biology of coral mucus, bacterial communities associated with coral tissue, mucus, and seawater, coral mortality from different environment impacts, coral coverage of reefs in Spratly Islands, and symbiotic relationships between reef fishes and corals were studied. The results showed that massive corals produce excess mucus to counteract the high sedimentation levels in the water column caused by dredging activity. Highly active heterotopic microbial communities are then attracted to the mucus’s dissolved organic carbon and perform respiration that rapidly consumes the oxygen and causes the coral to become stressed. Corals are important in the reef ecosystem, so the death of corals would affect fish higher up in the food chain. The South China Sea mainly supports the fishing industry in China. However, recent studies have shown that number of fish species has declined within the past eight years. The findings suggested that despite China’s two-month annual ban on fishery in the South China Sea, populations of fish will continue to decline as more land reclamation projects are implemented in the Spratly Islands, which would significantly impact the fishing economy.

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  Separation of Blood Mixtures Using Fluorescently Labeled Antibodies

  Dani Jabado

  Identifying and analyzing biological mixture samples at a crime scene are of paramount concern for forensic scientists, especially if that type of evidence contains only one cell type. The presence of multiple contributors in a biological evidence sample reduces the probative value of DNA evidence and can sometimes lead to its eventual loss of value. As such, this study was performed in an attempt to examine and evaluate flow cytometry analysis as a means to separate blood mixture samples labeled with fluorescent antibodies. Fluorescein Isothiocyanate (FITC) antibodies were specifically targeted and bound to HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigens) markers present on nucleated cells in the blood, after which they were isolated from the blood mixture utilizing Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) - A high throughput technique that separates cell populations based on their optical activity, followed by STR analysis. This approach was tested on fresh blood mixtures containing two contributors, where one contributor possessed an HLA A*02 allele that was not shared with the other contributor. We hypothesize that HLA A*02 positive samples would exhibit fluorescence when bound with the fluorescently labeled antibodies while the HLA A*02 samples would not. As such, we would be able to separate both cell populations using FACS followed by STR analysis. Such a work flow is believed to yield discriminant STR profiles unique to each contributor thus increasing the probative value of the evidence at hand. Results supported our hypothesis and yielded discriminant STR profiles for both contributors, with minor peaks from the A*02 negative contributor being observed in A*02 positive contributor sample. We can then conclude that HLA-A*02 antibodies coupled to FACS is a suitable method that can be utilized to evaluate and separate blood mixture samples in an attempt to yield discriminant STR profiles.

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  The Role of CaMK-II in the Development of Leukemia/Lymphoma in Danio Rerio

  Daniel Mohammadi

  Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is a blood disorder characterized by aberrant proliferation of immature lymphocytes. ALL is the most common cancer in children and can result from external influences, such as radiation, or internal influences, such as genetic mutation. Additionally, Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMK-II) is a serine/threonine protein kinase whose increased expression has been found in various leukemias. Zebrafish and human immune cells are analogous and both species have conserved hematopoietic stem cell specification mechanisms. In this study, the constitutively active form of CaMK-II, resulting from a threonine to aspartic acid point mutation at the 287 base-pair location (T²⁸⁷D), was paired with the EGFP transgene using Tol2 Gateway technology and injected into zebrafish at the one-cell stage. The zebrafish expressing the transgene were outcrossed to wild type and mutant p53 zebrafish and then monitored for leukemic development using flow cytometry and pathology. Based on FACS results, the mutant p53 bearing the T²⁸⁷D mutation were found to have increased levels of lymphocytes compared to the mutant p53 zebrafish without the T²⁸⁷D mutation. Furthermore, hematologists confirmed the development of B-cell leukemia/lymphoma from histological slides prepared from the mutant p53 with the T²⁸⁷D mutation. The mutant p53 without the T²⁸⁷D mutation did not yield such results. These findings highlight a potential role of CaMK-II in the abnormal development of lymphocytes and provide a useful model, from which, drug studies can be performed for potential treatment options.

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  Improving binding affinity through cyclization

  Kaylee M. Newcomb and Nicolas Abrigo

  Cancer chemotherapy results in systematic damage as the drugs used are also toxic to benign tissue. Sensitizing a cancer cell to therapy by interfering with the DNA repair mechanisms would decrease overall toxicity, as the necessary dosage of chemotherapy drugs would be lowered. The Hartman lab developed a peptide (8.6) that binds with a KD of 1 μM to the C-terminal domain of breast cancer associated protein (BRCA1), blocking homologous recombination. The crystal structure of the peptide shows the tyrosine and threonine residues are close together, suggesting that by cyclizing these positions, the peptide may already be constrained into its bound conformation. A series of dibromomethylnaphthalene linkers of various length were synthesized and cyclized through alkylation of the cysteine residues on peptide 8.6. The binding of the cyclic peptides with the BRCA1 (BRCT)2 domain will be compared to peptide 8.6 through the use of fluorescence polarization.

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  Alexithymia Moderates the Association Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Perceived Adolescent Adjustment

  Hayne Noh

  Rates of suicide among African American youth are increasing faster than any other ethnic group (Bridge et al., 2015). With mental illness associated with suicide rates, it is essential to understand how symptoms manifest during adolescence. Although the association between maternal depression and poor adolescent adjustment is well established, there is a dearth of evidence examining the impact of maternal alexithymia on adolescent adjustment, particularly among low-income youth. The goal of the study was to elucidate the role of maternal alexithymia (difficulty understanding and expressing emotion) in the association between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent adjustment within a sample of low-income urban youth.

  Data from the current sample were drawn from Project COPE, a 4-year longitudinal study of low-income urban youth from the eastern United States. The analytic sample consisted of youth (N = 351, Mage=12.20 years, SD=0.68 years at baseline) and their maternal caregivers from Time 1 of the study. The youth identified as 91% African American and 53% male. Maternal depression and Alexithymia was assessed using self-reports from the Brief Symptoms Inventory and the Toronto-Alexithymia scale respectively. Adolescent adjustment (anxiety and depressive symptoms) was assessed via caregiver reports from the Child Behavior Checklist. Results from moderation analyses revealed that maternal alexithymia moderated the association between maternal depression and perceived adolescent adjustment. Specifically, the association between maternal depressive symptoms and decreased perception of youth’s adjustment was stronger in mothers with high alexithymia. These findings illustrate the negative impact of maternal alexithymia on youth adjustment and subsequent poor outcomes.